by John Lowe, USA TODAY Sports

by John Lowe, USA TODAY Sports

Davey Johnson played with Hank Aaron in Atlanta in 1973-74, when Aaron was making his charge past Babe Ruth for the all-time home-run record.

Now, in 2013, Johnson manages the Washington Nationals and has to confront Miguel Cabrera.

He said Cabrera reminds him of Aaron in two ways.

"Early in his career, Aaron used the whole field," Johnson said. "Later in his career, all he did was pull everything.

"A lot of what Cabrera does reminds me a lot of Aaron in his younger days. Aaron would go to the opposite field."

Johnson told me this just before batting practice at the recent All-Star Game, where he served as a coach for the National League. That night, with the game scoreless in the fourth inning, Cabrera showed again what a terrific opposite-field hitter he is. He unleashed his big right-handed swing and drove a double up the right-center gap off a pitcher he had never faced, Arizona left-hander Patrick Corbin. He came around with the first run in the American League's 3-0 win.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland has said that Cabrera has the best opposite-field power of any hitter he has seen in his 50 years in baseball.

"He's not looking to pull," Kipnis said. "It's the weirdest thing: How short his swing is, and how long it stays through the zone. You'll see a 500-foot home run to left, and then you'll see three line drives over the second baseman. His pitch recognition is unbelievable."

Aaron could astound Johnson just by telling him his approach at the plate: He looked for the breaking ball, not the fastball. "They can't throw the fastball by me," Aaron told Johnson.

And now Johnson says, "I think Cabrera is the same way."

John Lowe covers Major League Baseball for the Detroit Free Press, a Gannett affiliate.